Illicit Substances
A few students at the University have gotten their hands on a new narcotic called "Death's Head". However, after a student OD's on it, gruesomely dying, it's up to the Circle Guard to put a stop to the drug trade. Stage 1 - Overdose A student calls upon Shayla, telling her their friend took something and now isn't looking good. Shayla sends the student to get the Circle Guard as a matter of procedure, and when they arrive they find Shayla tending to an unconscious student, whose skin is being absorbed by a purplish rash. Soon after, the student begins to vomit, and then their torso erupts, spewing thick purple goo, blood, and flesh everywhere, 4 Gas Spores (which look like small Beholders) and a Spectator spring forth. Stage 2 - On the Trail Asking around, the Circle Guard find out that the drugs have been obtained by a dealer hanging around outside the Marked Dahlia tavern. The dealer is a plain-clothed individual, brown hair, human, male, maybe mid 30s, named John Smith. Unknown to the party, the criminal syndicate has a bruiser by the name of George Smiley waiting in an alley nearby. * John uses "cultist" monster stats * George uses "Gladiator" monster stats Defeating the bruisers, or buying off John with enough coin will reveal they work for The Beauties, who are based out of the sewers beneath the town. Stage 3 - A Meeting with the Boss A series of Thieve's Cant markers will lead the way in the sewers to the hideout of The Beauties, assuming the party did not find another way to get to the hideout. There an otherwise inconspicuous sewer gate sits, guarded by an two Ogre-like men and a robed elf sitting on a chair near the great, playing with a knife. (Use Ogre and Spy stats) Upon approach, the elf without looking up from his knife asks for a password ("Shining Bright"). The grate itself is locked, the key for which is on the person of the elf Juliarch. Through the grate is a small tunnel, which curves left, and eventually lets out into a fairly large sewer intersection room. Immediately opposite the entry is a large sewer pipe, spewing forth a waterfall of water/sewage, set about 10 feet up into the wall, near the ceiling. To the left and right are further sewer passages, which eventually bend out of sight. In front of the waterfall sits a man at a desk, silhouetted by 4 crystals behind him which give off an extremely bright light, making it hard to see in the direction. The man's voice echoes off the sewer walls, louder than expected, and he introduces himself as "Oalo". The man behind the desk is but a ruse, a mannequin, while the real Oala, a Beholder, waits in a passage behind the waterfall. Few in the Beauties are privy to this fact. Stage 4 - Tryout Returning the next day, the sewer intersection area is no longer lit by the daylight crystals, they sit extinguished embedded into the wall, and the desk sits empty. Instead a man crooked ruddy complexioned man named Varith greets them, and gives them the task of retrieving a lockbox. To retrieve this lockbox they must go to a building, for which he gives them an address in the Residential Quarter, which is down the street from the Temple to the Platinum Dragon. Inside that building there is a desk, and inside one of the drawers of that desk is the lockbox. Retrieve it within 24 hours and they will have passed their tryout. Stage 5 - Retrieving the Lockbox The building in question is situated in a not-so-great part of town. Not the slums per se, but clearly it's the poorer area of town. This building is modest, a single door leads into a singular room where 24 beds are situated in two rows. There is a small adjoining bedroom in the back, and a modest kitchen with some simple potatoes and salted meats. In the cramped bedroom is the desk in question, and in the lower left drawer is the lockbox, containing 8 gold and 6 silver. Behind the building is a small lot, which has what looks like discarded furniture on it that has been nailed together to form a sort of playground. This is of course an orphanage, one dedicated to the Platinum Dragon. The orphanage is run by a stocky madam by the name of Winnifred Cognacious, and older woman grey of hair and stern, but dedicated to her work and full of love for the children of the orphanage. She is always looking to get the children adopted and does her best to keep the place running. Stage 6 - Ambush If the party returns to the sewer hideout, they find Varith waiting for them after being led through the gate. He reveals that while they enjoyed watching them as they went about the tryout, the party made several fatal mistakes: namely not concealing their return to Cognitus University. Members of the Beauties reveal themselves, blocking off the main entrance and the sewer pipe waterfall entrance. The enemies are as follows: * Varith (Warlock of the Great Old One) * Garfinkle, halfling (Swashbuckler) * Halftooh, Half-orc (Orog) After surviving the ambush, Varith summoned his master, Oalo the Beholder and the party fled in their weakened state. Stage 7 - What Remains of the Lair Oalo, being a paranoid creature by nature, has vacated the old Lair of the Beauties and fired anyone left in the gang, including Varith (who can be found drinking away his woes upstairs in the Beautiful Ramshorn). No one is sure where Oalo has gone, but rumors speak of him setting up shop either somewhere deep in the Electrum mine, or somewhere else entirely in the sewers.\ Oalo in actuality HAS taken up residence in the tunnels beneath the Electrum mine (there is a connection between the sewer and an old mine shaft that some enterprising miners use to pilfer Electrum to sell themselves). He is currently tunneling out a new Lair for himself, this one near a gulch of lava with nought but narrow walkways around it. However, in the old Lair, there remains evidence of the old goods, pieces of crates, some straw from packaging, and other such detritus in the large room behind the waterfall. From the rooms 5 tunnels spread out, allowing access to a large part of the sewer system along with a great many escape routes should Oalo have needed them. Sitting on the floor in the center of the room is a 1 foot tall solid gold racoon statue. The status emanates an incredibly potent magical aura (school, Conjuration). This is an Effigy of the Thief.